Tou smiled happily and stepped out of the elevator as soon as it stopped. Jeong Taeui followed, but was immediately stunned into silence.
The fifth basement floor in front of him was a long corridor covered with white carpet. It was so quiet that not even a single footprint could be heard, and it was also very different from the previous shabby building above ground.
Jeong Taeui never thought there would be such a clean and gorgeous space in the basement of the old abandoned house above.
"What? Surprised?
Tou smiled brightly as if this wasn't the first time he saw such a reaction from others.
"You must have thought of a damp cellar filled with rats, cockroaches and cobwebs everywhere, right?"
Although he didn't imagine it to be as horrifying as it was, he wasn't entirely wrong.
"Does this floor have BOQ?"
(BOQ is Bachelor Officer Quarters which is the headquarters for single officers/private rooms for each person.)
Jeong Taeui silently exclaimed and wondered as he followed Tou down the long hallway, he turned his head to look at him and smiled as if he knew he would ask that.
"Were you an army officer? What unit?"
".... …"
"No comment? Okay, everyone has some things they don't want to say. Here it's called an internal room, not a BOQ. 1 room for 3 people. But the work and study area is downstairs. There's a gym, a library, a multi-purpose room. Basically, the entertainment area is on that floor, if you want to play, read books, or watch movies in your free time, you can go down there."
"I want to put my 'burden' down first."
Tou must have been amused when Jeong Taeui said that while slinging a Boston backpack that didn't seem heavy at all over his shoulder.
"Is that so? Then let me hold it. First, we need to build relationships with our other teammates, right? We'll be going through life and death together in the future, so shouldn't we talk to each other first?"
"....."
"After 5pm is free time so everyone is doing their own thing. But most of them are probably just hanging out in the practice room anyway."
Jeong Taeui wanted to meet the people who would be going through life and death with him after he dropped off his backpack and checked into his room, but he still quietly climbed up Tou, who was walking ahead with his bag on his shoulder. Who knows, maybe this was the normal procedure for someone new to this place.
But at least there was one comfort, that is, except for the nine superiors, everyone else was an equal colleague.
He might be a newbie, but in principle, if the new and old ghosts were equal, relationships would be a lot easier. Besides, it might sound like a joke, but it seems like killing one or two people is okay.
…..…Although he was more likely to be the one who would die than the one who would kill.
Maybe you need to be more vigilant from now on.
Even when he was in military academy, Jeong Taeui's training results and actual adaptation were neither too good nor too bad. It was always just average.
Unless he was confident that he could defeat all the enemies approaching, it would be best to stay quiet and endure for half a year. As he turned his head around the corner of the corridor, he saw the library and the multi-purpose room. There was also a vending machine in the corner, and he occasionally passed by someone, but no one paid any attention to him. They just glanced at him as if recognizing him as an unfamiliar face and left.
"I thought the Asia branch was all about Asians, but apparently not."
After a Westerner passed by him, Jeong Taeui spoke up, and Tou turned his head to look at him.
"There are different races in every branch. The Asian branch means it is in Asia, not just accepts Asians. But compared to the main office or other branches, there are more Asians here. I am also half Asian."
Tou said as he arrived in front of the gym. The iron door, which was twice as big as a normal door, opened, revealing a space that was much larger than any other gym. In fact, the facilities were no different from those in the military, except for some of the training equipment that looked more dangerous and prominent.
Inside the gym, there were about 40 to 50 people working out individually. Among them, he saw some people sitting in groups of three or four chatting, some lying on their backs sleeping, and most of the rest were engrossed in their training as if they wanted to increase their physical strength as much as possible.
"You said this is free time and so many people come here, so they must be hard-working."
"If you don't want to die early, you'd better start training hard before next month. Look, there's only two weeks left. If those Europeans fall into my hands, they'll be dead for sure."
Tou clenched his fists in determination, he looked around the room and walked towards where the six men were gathered. Even when they were gathered together, there was still a moderate distance between them, but enough to recognize that they were a separate group.
Jeong Taeui nodded silently. Maybe they were on the same team. And as expected. Tou was approaching them.
When they realized that two people were approaching, everyone stopped exercising or stopped talking and turned their eyes towards the two. To be exact, looking at Jeong Taeui's unfamiliar face.
"That Tou guy went out and forgot his pack of cigarettes?"
"That's right. Once he starts smoking, he has to smoke three at a time. How can he forget?"
The eyes of the smiling and talking man stopped at Jeong Taeui. Not only them, but also the other men nearby turned their curious eyes towards him.
"He's new. Officer Jeong told me to bring him down here to build rapport with everyone, so I brought him here. New member of our team."
While Tou said a few words to them, Jeong Taeui just indifferently observed the surroundings.
The age of the people here was around 20 to a little over 30. The youngest looking person in the corner looked like he had just reached adulthood. The man who was doing abs nearby was probably in his late 20s or early 30s at most. It seemed like the age range was in his late 20s or early 30s at most. A 30 year old using physical strength couldn't beat a 20 year old who broke a buffalo's horn, but in a fight, besides physical strength, technique was just as important, so age wasn't an issue.
As Tou said, half of them are Asian, the rest are white and black. Overall, it's hard to tell, but at least judging by the people here, there seem to be more blacks than whites. However, at first glance, there are also many people who appear to be of mixed blood.
It seemed like everyone didn't want to die, so they exercised whenever they had time. Okay, he would only be here for half a year, even if there was someone he liked and wanted to develop a relationship with here, it would be difficult, it would be better to just live quietly like this and then turn away.
"Hmm, Taeil? 20….. 25 years old?"
One of the men sitting on a pile of mattresses leaning against the wall jumped down and approached him. Behind Jeong Taeui, the others sneered after Tou briefly introduced Jeong Taeui.
Jeong Taeui looked at the man approaching from the front. His ears perked up to take in the sounds and atmosphere around him.
Not bad. It wasn't laughter or curious looks or hostility or ridicule, it was the sounds of delight at something new. After all, you can't lose your goodwill towards someone overnight.
The man in the front with a quiet smile observed Jeong Taeui. He was a man much taller than an Asian. Now that I think about it, I wonder if he was a half-breed or not…. It seemed like he was the leader of this group.
Jeong Taeui smiled bitterly in his heart. No matter where they were, the society where men gathered always had similarities. They were bound to find a leader among them even among mere colleagues.
Of course, they won't be appointed as team leaders openly, but if you dig deeper, any team will have a beginning and an end. Even though they say they are equal, there will be people who will accept and obediently follow the leader that they have a tacit understanding with each other.
Jeong Taeui didn't know if it was human nature and not just male, but as an ordinary man, he couldn't possibly know how women were divided in society. And he didn't have the thought of wanting to find out.
"What about you?"
Jeong Taeui smiled and raised his chin at the man. He pointed at himself and shrugged.
"Me? Carlo Sagisa. 30 in 7 months. Are you still curious?"
"Um, is it because of me that you warmed up your wrists and ankles?"
The man named Carlo laughed. It was either out of habit or intimidation, but as he approached Jeong Taeui, he flexed his fingers and slowly relaxed his ankles, then spread his arms out to warm up.
"No, no. I just wanted to do some exercise. What's wrong, scared? You don't look that scared, do you?"
"Because my insides are a little different from my outside appearance."
As Jeong Taeui muttered, Carlo laughed loudly. Although it sounded like a joke, it was true to a certain extent. He had heard that a person's inner self and outer appearance could be different. Now that he had thought about it deeply, he felt uncomfortable. The man's rotating wrist, although it was a bit of an exaggeration to say that it was as big as a pot lid, was still very large. The muscles that bulged from his arms looked as hard as steel. The legs in the boxer shorts were no less impressive. How could he be comfortable when that muscular body was gradually approaching him?
"Alright, you must be the type with a tiger face but a kitten soul, right? How about it, I'm going to warm up a bit, aren't you going to help me?"
His strong muscles and body didn't say it all, but he didn't want to face this man anyway. If the odds were 100, then he was definitely at a 100 disadvantage. He wasn't confident in his strength from the start, even if it was a battle to take the position of a pack leader, he didn't want to be above him in the slightest.
But even though Jeong Taeui wanted to refuse, he didn't have time to refuse.
As soon as Carlo finished speaking, he went to Jeong Taeui and grabbed his wrist with one hand, grabbed his shoulder with the other, and hooked his other leg around Jeong Taeui's leg, causing him to lose his balance for a moment. His eyes seemed to rotate about half a circle, moving closer to the ceiling and then farther away, and then, a strong shock went through his back. Even though he tried to land as softly as possible by reflex, he still couldn't stop the sharp pain that shot through his chest for a moment. And right in front of him, Carlo was frowning and laughing heartily.
"What is this, Tou said you are a soldier, why are you acting so effeminate, how can you fight properly? Get a grip."
Loud laughter and whistling echoed from all sides. Jeong Taeui glanced at the man with the Western name, this man was far from the typical beauty of mixed blood, he had a face that was pure oriental with a bit of western features.
By normal methods combined with the strength of a normal person, it is impossible to escape this grip unless you have master techniques or the strength of King Kong.
"Do you want me to stand up?"
"Yes. If you are good enough."
"Okay. By any means."
Jeong Taeui said as he lifted his right leg, the only leg he could move at the moment, and bent his knee up, slamming it hard into Carlo's groin.
"Ah!"
Not only did Carlo scream, but the men standing around chatting also fell silent with sweaty faces and simultaneously cried out.
The silence that lasted for a brief moment was broken by loud shouts.
"This bastard is such a coward!!!"
"Coward…..!"
While the victim was lying on the floor unable to move, the men behind him screamed as they ran towards Jeong Taeui - who quickly escaped from his arms and stood up. Jeong Taeui snorted.
"I was just defending myself, where is that cowardly?"
Seemingly moved by those words, a man who had been sitting next to Carlo jumped up from the cushion. He rolled up his sleeves, his build was shorter than Jeong Taeui's, but his body was as solid and heavy as a rock.
After one ordeal, another one came. Could this man be that leader's subordinate? It seemed like he was being warmly welcomed today, and he definitely had to roll around on the podium.